Don't Forget Monday's Partial Lunar Eclipse!

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The historic transit of Venus across the sun Tuesday is a
must-see for skywatchers, but observers shouldn't overlook
another celestial event that comes just one day earlier -- a
partial lunar eclipse of the June full moon.

On Tuesday (June 5), Venus will trek across the sun's face from
Earth's perspective, marking the last such
transit of Venus until 2117. In a sort of celestial warmup,
the full moon will dive through the Earth's shadow on Monday
morning to produce a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible
to observers throughout parts of North America, Asia and the
Pacific region, weather permitting.

The lunar
eclipse comes two weeks after the May 20 annular solar
eclipse that enthralled skywatchers around the world, and that's
no accident.

Solar eclipses are always accompanied by lunar eclipses, either
two weeks before or two weeks after. The moon travels halfway in
its orbit around the Earth in that time, forming another straight
line with our planet and the sun. (In solar eclipses, the moon
blots out the sun, while lunar eclipses occur when Earth's shadow
covers all or part of the moon.)

The same parts of the world that were treated to the May 20 "ring
of fire" solar eclipse will thus be favorably placed for Monday's
partial lunar eclipse. Much of central and western North America
should get a good show, as should eastern Asia, Australia and the
Pacific region. The full moon of June is known as the Strawberry
Moon since it occurs during the short strawberry-harvesting
season this month.

The eclipse begins in earnest at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), when the
moon first contacts the umbra, the dark inner portion of Earth's
shadow. The umbra might appear dark and relatively colorless to
the naked eye, but binoculars
or a telescope may show it glowing dimly orange, red or
brown.

The eclipse peaks at 7:04 a.m. EDT (1104 GMT), when 37 percent of
the moon will be in shadow, and ends an hour later, at 8:06 a.m.
EDT (1206 GMT).

Observers in Europe will miss out on Monday's lunar eclipse, as
will part of the United States East Coast, where the moon will
set before it enters the dark umbra. Most viewers in the Pacific
Time Zone, however, should be able to see a considerable portion
of the two-hour eclipse.

Places on the other side of the International Date Line -- such
as Australia, New Zealand and Asia -- will see the eclipse on
Monday evening rather than Monday morning.